A new prototype electric sports car called Teewave AR.1 has been created as a result of a partnership between British car designers Gordon Murray Design and Japanese chemistry group Toray Industries.
The two-seater sports car has been designed to use the Toray carbon fibre component system meaning it has a low weight of 850kg (including the 240kg battery), putting the car firmly in Lotus Elise territory and some 400kg lighter than a Tesla. The performance is limited by an output figure of 47kw but a torque of 180 Nm can be achieved from a standing start.
Professor Gordon Murray said it had been a pleasure to work with Toray Industries’ team on the project. “The resultant vehicle weight once again proves that performance through light weight is the most efficient and environmentally friendly way to achieve power to weight targets.”
A spokesperson for Toray Industries added: “The vehicle should be viewed as a flagship for embodying our Green Innovation Project in the automotive field.”
The entire programme from concept discussions to running vehicle took just nine months and was delivered on target, both in terms of cost and final handover. The power train in the vehicle are the base components used in one of the commercial electric vehicles currently available, but the unique electrical architecture and control units were developed by Gordon Murray Design.
A carbon front crash structure was designed and developed for the car and a full vehicle Euro Ncap test was simulated in addition to a rigid barrier dynamic impact. A correlation process was conducted on the front crash structure for both half energy and full energy using physical tests.
source: thegreencarwebsite
